


Waiting For a Star to Fall

by Pixietails



Category: Durarara!!
Genre: M/M, Ugh, i hate them, i hope they die, these two, they're the worst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-13 04:46:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7963009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixietails/pseuds/Pixietails
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>By now Izaya was used to their little back and forth, and he liked to think he fared pretty well.  He definitely won more often than Tsukumoya liked to admit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waiting For a Star to Fall

**Author's Note:**

  * For [itsnotlove](https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsnotlove/gifts).



> this fucking ship
> 
> Based on itsnotlove's amazing interpretation of Tsukumoya <3

* * *

 

    “I didn’t ask you to come with me.”

    “You didn’t have to; I could tell by the sound of your voice alone that you wanted my company.”

    A sigh reverberated throughout the quiet stairwell; soft and exasperated, yet somehow still audible over the hollow echoes of their footsteps.  It was a small display: a tiny, _miniscule_ moment of genuine irritation that most people would have just shrugged off.  But for Izaya it was a sign of weakness, one that left him hoping (almost _desperately_ ) that the sound had gone unnoticed.   And yet, as they made their way to the roof access door, he was positive he could feel a familiar, self-satisfied smile burning against the back of his neck.

    “No counterargument?  That’s a little disappointing.  Isn’t this where you start getting defensive and try to convince me how wrong I am?  Or did you actually _want_ me to follow you?  I’m flattered, I didn’t know you--”

   “Tsukumoya.  Do you remember when I told you to go home?”

   “Which time?”

   “The most _recent_.”

   A pause.  God--he could practically _hear_ that smile.  How had he managed to lose ground just by _going upstairs_ ?  It didn’t make sense, and it definitely wasn’t _fair_.  But as long as it wasn’t noticeable--as long as he could just shrug it all off and pretend he wasn’t actually irritable--there was still a chance for him.  By now Izaya was used to their little back and forth, and he liked to think he fared pretty well.  He definitely won more often than Tsukumoya liked to admit.

   “Of course I do.”

   “And how long ago was that?” Izaya asked.  He was pleased to hear that he had chased any sign of agitation out of his voice, though he wasn’t foolish enough to believe himself to be _safe_.  After slipping up once already he needed to be more careful.  

   “Are you such a terrible informant that you can’t even remember what happened five minutes ago?  What will you do when I stop answering your questions?  I can’t always be there to hold your hand, Orihara.”

    The door to the roof had never felt so far away.  Each step felt as though it equaled a mile, and though it wasn’t any sort of escape it was at least _something_.  Once they were outside and free from the claustrophobic confines of the stairwell, Izaya would feel a little more at ease.  The sky would open up above them, vast and infinite--an impossibly deep, black sea that would hopefully be clear enough to offer a glimpse of the dazzling meteors currently sparkling across the sky.

    It would be something of a lie to say he had originally hoped to view it alone.

    “You call me terrible and yet you can’t even tell when someone doesn’t want you around!  It’s pathetic how absolutely _desperate_ you are to be near me!”  Yet he didn’t bother to comment on how he _let_ Tsukumoya stay.  Telling him to leave and actually enforcing such a thing were two completely different matters.

     “I just wanted to see your face when you realize you’re wasting your time.  I _did_ tell you that you wouldn’t see anything…but you were so insistent.  It’s really cute how childlike you can be.  Were you hoping to wish on a falling star?”

    It took enormous effort to bite his tongue and just _stay quiet_ , but as much as he hated to admit it, Izaya knew that Tsukumoya was right--at least about _one_ thing.  Stargazing was already virtually impossible within the city, and in addition to the light pollution the moon was nearly full.  The sky was too bright to see anything; even on a clear, cloudless night.  Occasionally, when it was very dark, he had been able to see a few of the brighter, more prominent stars twinkling faintly above.  He knew firsthand just how unlikely it would be for them to see something amazing, but it wasn’t as though meteor showers were an everyday occurrence.

    He wasn’t giving up just yet.

    Izaya felt slightly more cheerful as he finally stepped out into the mild, late summer night.  The sky was perfectly smooth and dark, just as he’d imagined; a blank canvas without so much as even a single star dotting its inky expanse.  And though it was just a _little_ disappointing, it wasn’t unexpected in the slightest.  The moon, however, shone bright and pale: its foggy silver light faded steadily into the city skyline, creating a hazy gray-blue sort of glow.  Hardly ideal conditions.

    “Don’t look so disappointed,” came Tsukumoya’s voice. Although Izaya wasn’t looking at him, he was sure the man had been watching him the entire time rather than the sky itself.  Part of him realized that he should have hated that more.  “You couldn’t have been that determined to see anything or we would have ended up leaving the city.  Going somewhere dark would have yielded spectacular results, but you were the one who wanted to come up to the roof…”

    If Izaya hadn’t been paying attention he might have just let the seemingly innocuous statement slide.  Tsukumoya was poking at him just as he always did, and not so subtly reminding him how naive he was being to think he would see anything noteworthy while still in Tokyo.  The countryside _would_ have been much better, obviously, but it wasn’t the would-be advice that stoked Izaya’s intrigue.  

    “You don’t have to be so _coy_ about it, you know,” Izaya said, turning to the man beside him with a pleasant smile.  “If you wanted to leave the city with me, you could have just asked.  But as much as you’d love to get me somewhere far away and secluded, you’ll have to settle for this instead.  Maybe _I_ should be the one telling _you_ not to look so disappointed.”

    Silence stretched between them for several moments.  Once or twice Tsukumoya looked as though he were on the verge of saying something, but each time he worked up the courage he almost instantaneously backed down.  For a second Izaya began to think that the somewhat older man was honestly _angry_ at him, but as the rosy tint of Tsukumoya’s cheeks grew more noticeable, it became clear that he was angry at _himself_ ; not his junior.

    “It’s not like this is a d-date, Orihara,” he said at length.  “I had to make sure you didn’t come up here and _cry_ because you were too much of an idiot to properly watch a meteor shower.”

     And there it was.  It had been barely noticeable, but the slight, almost hidden stammer had caught Izaya’s attention immediately.  Ever since meeting Tsukumoya in person Izaya had become fascinated with the way he spoke, and had quickly learned how to tell the difference in his mood just from the words he used and the way that he said them.  His quirks were all very amusing, but the most _interesting_ thing of all undoubtedly had to be the man’s painfully obvious _stutter_.

    Hearing him speak for the first time had come as something of a surprise--though it was hardly as remarkable as discovering the ever-present, seemingly omniscient digital entity was, in fact, _human_ .  Izaya could still recall just how _happy_ he had felt when they had finally met in person, and how thrilled he had been to learn anything and everything that he could.  Finally he could put a face and a voice to the snarky, mocking tone of the frustrating chatroom he so often visited.  

    That voice had become intimately familiar far more quickly than expected--so familiar, in fact, that Izaya had begun to ignore the stutter. So when it curiously seemed to vanish from time to time, Izaya took great interest in figuring out _why_.  Why did Tsukumoya’s stutter come and go?  What caused him to struggle, and what caused his voice to sound smooth and confident?  And why did he alternate between the use of Izaya’s first and last names?  

    “Ah, that’s too bad!” Izaya teased.  “If this were a date we could have sat on the ledge and held hands as we watched the stars.  Doesn’t that sound _romantic_ ?  But since it’s definitely _not_ a date I’ll have to make do somehow.  What a disappointment…”

    If Tsukumoya had only been flushed before, his face now absolutely _glowing_.

   “Wh-what are y-you--?”  There was a faint trace of panic in the man’s voice, as though the very idea of a date was the most ridiculous and alarming thing he could think of.  “D-d-don’t b-be so _s-s-stupid_ Iza--Orihara.  Wh-Who w-would want to s-s-suffer l-like that?  I’m n-no m-m-masochist.”

    Izaya had to at least give him credit--Tsukumoya was making a great effort to sound as indifferent as possible.  An effort that was utterly failing in the most painfully obvious sort of way.  Had he been a _nice_ man, Izaya might have just pretended to ignore his companion’s struggle, but where was the fun in that?  The opportunity was too good to pass up.

   “Hm?  Tsukumoya, are you _blushing_ ?” Izaya laughed.  “You are!  And just _listen_ to yourself; so defensive!  I can barely even understand a word you’re saying.  How _cute_ !  You really are just _adorable_.”

    A small, strangled sort of noise came in reply, and Izaya let out another peal of laughter.  The tables had so quickly turned, and for a moment the stars were all but forgotten.  Tsukumoya looked so _angry_ with himself that Izaya began to wonder if he would actually throw a fit and leave if he were pushed any more, but before such a thought could manifest, Tsukumoya sat down, cross-legged, and childishly turned his eyes skyward.  
  
    With a smile, Izaya joined him on the ground, making sure that their shoulders brushed ‘accidentally’ as he sat down.  “Are you going to pout now?”

    When no reply came, Izaya simply laughed again and lay back, deciding he could wait just a _little_ bit longer.

    After nearly an hour, however, Izaya realized it just wasn’t going to happen.  He hadn’t seen so much as an airplane let alone any sort of cosmic event.  The light haze of the evening marine layer seemed to have solidified, making it so that even the moon was more difficult to see.  Lying on his back, staring up at the slate black sky, Izaya felt ready to concede defeat.

   Beside him, Tsukumoya lay quietly, his arms casually folded over his stomach as though the cool, rough concrete of the rooftop weren’t uncomfortable in the slightest.  Izaya was under the impression that he would have stayed there all night, just to make a point--as though his very presence proved that Izaya was being childish and stubborn.  

    “Hey--what time is it?”

    “As if you’d leave your phone behind.  Can’t you check the time yourself?  Honestly, you’re going to have to learn to do things on your own one of these days.  It’s a miracle you can even dress yourself without rushing to me for help.  But then, maybe that’s why you hired Namie-san in the first place.”

    Tsukumoya’s voice seemed to have leveled out again, but it hardly came as a surprise.  With so much time to recover, it would have been stranger to find him still stuttering and acting like an infant.  Izaya was sorely tempted to be stubborn and behave like a child himself, but wisely he seemed to realize that throwing fuel on the fire was exactly what Tsukumoya wanted.

    Wordlessly, Izaya pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned on the display.  It was only a little after midnight, and the city below still seemed to be teeming with life.  The muted sounds drifted almost lazily up to the rooftop; a gentle reminder that it was too early to just give up and go inside for the night.  But as Izaya began to put his phone back in his pocket he paused; a sudden (and inarguably _brilliant_ ) idea had occurred to him.

    “Wait--”

   Why hadn’t he thought of this before?  It wouldn’t help him see any meteors, but that didn’t mean he had to miss _everything_.  There was still a way for them both to see the stars, a way that would make them so painfully clear that they wouldn’t even need a telescope to see them accurately.

    “Orihara?  What are you--?”

    The words cut off abruptly a Izaya shifted closed to Tsukumoya--so close that his head was practically resting on the man’s shoulder.  But it wasn’t their proximity that had the broker so interested; instead, he was quickly sliding between screens on his phone, searching for an app nestled among a dozen others.  When he finally found it Izaya smiled and tapped on the icon, then held the phone up so that they could both easily see.

    “Are you serious?”

    “Well?  Don’t you think it’s a good idea?”

    Izaya’s voice was so suddenly enthusiastic that Tsukumoya really couldn’t argue.  Whenever he got excited his features seemed to practically light up and his childishness became incredibly endearing, rather than downright ridiculous.  And as much as he hated to admit it, Tsukumoya hard put to find many faults in Izaya’s grand scheme.

    Of course that didn’t stop him from trying.

     “I thought you wanted to see _meteors_ ; this doesn’t show real time events, you know.  It’s a sky map, and it even points out the constellations for you if you enable them.  Did I need to point out Ursa Minor for you?  That should be an easy one; even children know where to find the North Star.”

     The taunt fell short of its mark, receiving little more than an amused sort of _scoff_ .  Once again Izaya shifted closer, but only slightly _;_ just enough that their heads came together when he pointed out a small little _blur_ on the map.

    “It shows the meteor shower on here, so _technically_ I can see them.  And I don’t have the constellations enabled--but why would I?  That’s boring.  The North Star is here...and you can still see Aquila and Lyra, even though Tanabata is over…”

    “Ah...r-right.  Orihime and H-Hikoboshi w-w-will have to w-wait another y-year.  Wh-what d-did you w-wish for, Orihara?”

    “I made a wish for your terrible stutter to disappear, but I made it clear that I wouldn’t mind if you were to vanish along with it.”

    “H-How cruel!  And I w-was going to p-p-point out S-Saggitarius to y-you…”

    “Not Libra?”

    “Sagittarius is b-better.”

    As he listened, Izaya could hear the confidence returning to Tsukumoya’s voice.  The stutter gradually began to lessen, and would likely soon disappear.  It amused him that such a simple act of moving closer had flustered him, and if Izaya actually were to look at him he was sure he’d find a pale blush tinting the man’s cheeks.  At this point he wasn’t sure what teasing might get him.

    He didn’t really want to try.

   “Oh, I don’t know.  Draco seems pretty impressive.”

    Tsukumoya made a derisive noise and reached up to touch the screen, connecting several stars with his finger.

    “Look; Sagittarius is m-much more difficult to t-trace.  It stretches across the sky in so many directions.”

    “It looks like a mess.”

    “ _You_ look like a mess.”  The words had come out before Tsukumoya had had a chance to stop himself.  Feeling vaguely foolish, he pressed on before Izaya had the chance to comment.  “Do you really think Draco is that fascinating?”

    “Well, it _is_ a dragon.”

    “And?”

    “It’s better than an _archer_.”

    “Are you just a little envious that you can’t see Taurus this time of year?  You’re so transparent, Izaya!  You know, it’s not even that _impressive_ when you actually do see it.”

    “It’s still not a big _mess_ ,” Izaya fired back.

    With a sigh (and intent to prove Izaya _wrong_ ) Tsukumoya moved to sit up a little so that he could grab the phone away.  Since the constellation Taurus wasn’t visible in Japan during the summer months, Tsukumoya would have to try and physically move the map in order to find it.  But as he pulled the phone away, he felt his fingers brush across Izaya’s cool skin.  The brief contact sent small shivers through his body, much to his annoyance.  But the worst of it was the look on Izaya’s face.

    The bastard was grinning, accurately reading the situation without having to say a word.  Tsukumoya both hated and loved that about him, and it left him feeling uneasy--and maybe a little bold.  Part of him truly wanted to wipe that smug smile off Izaya’s face (had he always looked so pretty?  Or was that just a trick of the light?), but another, more _basic_ urge was quickly taking over.  There was nothing remotely impure about the desire, and perhaps that was what had Tsukumoya feeling so torn.

     It really was disgusting.

    In the end he found he couldn’t resist, and without a word he leaned over other man, placing an almost deceptively gentle kiss against his lips.  He could tell from the way Izaya’s body tensed beneath him that it hadn’t been fully expected, and yet he wasn’t naive enough to believe that the affection had come as a complete surprise.  Izaya was very rarely ever caught off guard.

     The kiss was short; a sweet, innocent thing.  It wasn’t the type of thing Izaya liked, and Tsukumoya knew as much.  There was so much behind such a simple little thing; too much to ever be put into words.  It was grotesque, and for a terrible moment Tsukumoya worried that he would actually scare Izaya off.  After all, it had been _genuine._

    It was exactly the type of thing that would send Izaya running.

    When he pulled back, Tsukumoya could see the smile had faded from Izaya’s soft lips, leaving behind something more difficult to read.  It wasn’t fear, but it wasn’t a expression that offered him comfort either.  Somehow it spoke volumes, and yet said nothing at all, and gave the impression that Izaya was simply waiting.  Waiting for Tsukumoya to make the next move.

    Feeling shaky, and a little bit foolish, Tsukumoya lay back beside Izaya.  He held up the phone, turning it to show a new display of stars just to their left.

    “D-Don’t interrupt n-now, Orihara, a-a-and I-I’ll show y-you the st-stars that m-make up L-Lupus.”


End file.
